In my September kitchen

The last days of August in Melbourne were a taste of spring, beautiful clear blue skies and mild temperatures. the weather can be such a tease…..

Feasting my eyes on silky luxurious fruity ice cream and sorbet recipes posted by northern hemisphere bloggers in the past months created a longing in me to replace an ice cream churn that went AWOL a few years ago. So without further ado may I present, in my kitchen a brand new, fire engine red ice cream maker, purchased online at a bargain basement price and delivered free of charge from the other side of this wide land. Standby for loads of frozen lactose free treats.

In my kitchen I’ve been marinating fetta. It’s an old caterers standby used to jazz up a salad or an antipasto platter. Marinated fetta will keep for months in the fridge. Into a clean jar I pack 400g fetta cheese cut into large cubes, a bay leaf, a few cloves of crushed garlic, a couple of teaspoons of smashed black peppercorns and a small bunch of fresh herbs. I like to use lemon thyme. Fill the jar with olive oil ensuring the cheese is well submerged. Seal the jar then up end it a few times to force the air bubbles out. Keep the jar refrigerated. It’s ready for use in a few weeks. After the cheese has been used up, the oil can be strained and used to dress salads or pasta.

In my kitchen there’s a tray of spiced nuts made to Celia’s recipe. Last month I whinged about all the egg white I was accumulating and she suggesting I try them. Well, they were quick to make and so delicious we’d gobbled them up within a few days. The macadamia’s were my favourite so I’ve used fewer this time. Hopefully that will limit the handfuls I scoff.

I my kitchen I have a bag of hulled millet. It’s the perfect gluten free substitute for couscous. Same texture, similar flavour, a fantastic vehicle for sauces and once cooled it fluffs into the perfect base for summer salads. Once before, years ago, I bought millet and in my ignorance I picked up grain that had not been hulled. It stayed hard, even after lots of cooking. That experience was off putting, but now I’m older and wiser…

Last month I showed you the pickled oranges I was macerating. Our new favourite salad is made with raddichio, shelled walnut halves, a few crimson flame grapes and some of the julienned pickled orange zest. I make a simple vinaigrette using the pickling liquor. Yum, a serendipitous combination.

And lastly I have a tub of cod roe. Our Swedish friends introduced us to Kalle’s Caviar, our Greek friend to Taramosalata. They may be a world apart culturally but with cod roe they have something in common. In plan to make a traditional Taramosalata using gluten free breadcrumbs. Fingers crossed…

Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hosts the inspiring and educational, monthly, In My Kitchen forum. I recommend you pop over to visit and see what’s happening in food blogger’s kitchens around the globe. You will be amazed!

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About ladyredspecs

I live in sunny Brisbane, Australia. My love of good food drives me as a cook, a reader, a traveller, an artist and but mostly as an eater.
I cooked professionally for many years but have no formal training. Simply guided by a love of eating good food, respect for ingredients and an abhorrence of artificial additives, I cook instinctively applying the technical know how acquired by experience.
I hope you enjoy what I share
Sandra AKA ladyredspecs

You have a red Cuisinart ice cream machine!! I am soooooo jealous! I have been looking at this machine deciding if I should get one and seeing it in your kitchen I want one. May I ask where you got it from and the bargain price please? You can PM (foodfairywishes@gmail.com) if you prefer not to tell everyone your secret 😉 I think I must try some millet, do you have any recipes on your blog I can use as inspiration? Thank you for your IMK

I haven’t posted any millet recipes Nicole. It can be treated like rice or bourghul. I have made pilau, served it plain as a couscous replacement, and also made a breakfast porridge. I hope you received the ice cream churn link

Sandra, I make a taramasolata using potatoes – recipe from a friend from Mykonos – it’s gluten-free and very moreish. There’s a recipe on my blog if you’re interested. Your icecream maker looks gorgeous – is that the one with the built in cooler so you don’t have to keep freezing a block first? So glad you liked the nuts! The maccies are my favourite too, but unlike you, I go the other way and sometimes make it with all macadamias (very piggy, I know). Thanks for the tip on the millet! 🙂

I have already bookmarked your taramasalata recipe Celia, you were quite close to the top when I googled. The ice cream maker has a built in cooler and I’m loving it, but right now my mouth is watering just thinking about spiced macadamias….

I should watch my blood sugar level before visiting your website because your posts are positively giving me the shivers! (in a GOOD way) I LOVE the idea of marinating feta and that salad you made with the pickled oranges is going to haunt me (until I can make some as well, fingers crossed) and lucky lucky you to get that pretty ice cream maker (bargain price no less) and lucky you guys that you have now have spring and summer ahead of you. (ps Sandra, I take it you already have popsickle molds as well, right? I’d be very interested in your recipes for pop sickles as well.)

It’s good to have you back in the blogosphere Azita, though I have been watching from afar. We call popsicles icy poles. I think I handed my moulds over to the grandkids. I can always borrow them back. Yes hot weather treats will be appearing for sure, stay tuned..

Oh, wow! Ice cream machine envy! I’ve had one on my amazon wishlist for over a year in the hopes that the price will go down. And, you got one in snazzy red! Love the salad with raddichio and pickled oranges.

A good kind of envy! I will need to check my wishlist more regularly. Have had several raddichio salads here in Italy, but am on the lookout for the tall pointy Treviso raddichio that they grill and the preserve in olive oil (yum!).

G’day! Can’t wait to see with the ice cream maker what you create!
Love marinated cheese!
While I know of millet, I have never cooked or baked with it, so will now have to put it on the list and thanks for this month’s kitchen view too!
Cheers! Joanne

What a fun treat to look into your kitchen…and see that gorgeous red ice cream maker! I hope you get a lot of joy out of it, creating cooling creations all year round (I mean, why not, right?). Marinated feta is on my to-do list, as is buying some millet because I’ve been wanting to try it for quite a while. Thanks for the reminder to buy hulled millet.

That marinated feta sounds divine. I have been baking feta recently as a salad addition and also for a tapas night. Its easy, place on oiled greaseproof paper, top with sliced red onions, oregano, some dried chilli flakes, +/- roasted cherry tomatoes, drizzle of evoo, season, tie ends up to.for a parcel & roast for 20 mins

That marinated feta sounds divine. I have been baking feta recently as a salad addition and also for a tapas night. Its easy, place on oiled greaseproof paper, top with sliced red onions, oregano, some dried chilli flakes, +/- roasted cherry tomatoes, drizzle of evoo, season, tie ends up to.for a parcel & roast for 20 mins

Love these peeks into kitchens. I never know what I may find. Today, in yours, I learned how to marinate feta. I know how to make the cheese but never thought to marinate it. That’s about to change. I especially like the idea of using the marinade as salad dressing. What a great idea!

A very delicious kitchen too. Can’t wait to see what comes out of that icecream maker,The radicchio salad leaps off the page. Many Greeks still make Taramasalada with cold mashed potato ( and a touch of grated onion). I was thinking this could be a good version for you.

Seconding Mrs Hungry, gorgeous one day, crap the next here in Sydney town. I want to come and sample that cheese and those nuts and that salad, well, you get the general idea. That ice cream maker looks mad!

Salads have been easy over the summer but as we hit autumn they need a little jazzing up, so your marinated feta looks just the job (and it looks wonderfully simple to do). I like your reasoning for using fewer macadamia nuts next time round for Spiced Nuts, but I suspect I’d just find another favourite in the remaining ones. They do look good.